Ronda Rousey is as smart as she is tough, and she’s a hero for how she foiled a reporter’s attempt to turn her into a feminist icon on any terms other than her own.
In an interview this past weekend with Yahoo’s Bianna Golodryga, Rousey touched on why she believes MMA is the most pro-woman sport in the world. Yet, right after Rousey cited all the good things MMA has done for women, Golodryga strongly implied that Rousey is being discriminated against because she is making less money than male fighters, specifically Floyd Mayweather, due to the fact that she is a woman.
“We talk about separate but equal, but you know, having been mentioned the Floyd Meathweater fight, they walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. You being at the height of your sport maybe make what? A million dollars at most per fight? Does that anger you and what can we do to change that?”
Rousey’s response was a thing of beauty:
“I don’t like to talk about exactly how much money I make, but I’m extremely comfortable and happy,” the Rousey said.
“If I got to a point where I had almost 50 fights, “the UFC champion continued,” I would probably be making close to the same amount of money as Floyd does. But at this point, I have 11, so I can’t expect it to be exactly equal yet, I don’t think. I have to put more time in,” she added.
How great is that? By saying she’s “comfortable and happy” she delivers a body blow to the reporter’s attempt to cast her as a victim. Then, by backing it up with factual knowledge of how the fight business really works, she delivers a knockout blow to Goldryga’s silly premise.
Well done, champ.
